My Hero Academia: Birthplace of Heroes
by nickrk13
Summary: A My Hero Academia story that takes place along the original storyline, except it follows young heroes in the United States of America. See how the Advent of the Extraordinary has affected the states, and follow Devin Owens and his friends on their journey to become Pro Heroes
1. Intro

_**My Hero Academia: Birthplace of Heroes**_

 _ **Book 1: Aspiring Hero**_

One day people began manifesting special abilities that became known as "Quirks," and before long, the world was full of superpowered humans. But with the advent of these exceptional individuals came an increase in crime, and governments alone were unable to deal with the situation. At the same time, others emerged to oppose the spread of evil! As if straight from the comic books, these heroes keep the peace and are even officially authorized to fight crime. Our story follows young Devin and his friends in their journey to become professional heroes in the United States of America.

 **Author:** Hey guys! Thanks for taking the time to read this ahead of time. I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wrote it to be a story that goes alongside the events of the show's timeline except with different heroes and a different school, this time in the US. I'm open to suggestions and if you have any comments feel free to give me them.


	2. Chapter 1: Familiar Scene

_**Chapter 1: Familiar Scene**_

The bullies shoved Devin onto the ground after dragging him into the alleyway. He was able to turn around, and fell arms first into a puddle. Devin felt the cold wetness soak the clothes on his elbows and knees. The two bullies were standing behind him. The one on the right was short and stocky, he had on a backwards baseball cap with a tuft of hair sticking out at the front. His face had a permanent sneer on it. His partner on the left was the opposite, he was tall and lean. His hair fell down over his scrunched up face which had an exceptionally large nose placed right on the center of it.

Wanting to surprise his attackers, Devin quickly whipped around and swung his right fist straight into the chest of Shorty. He took the hit without flinching. Scrunchy chuckled as Shorty grinned and his left fist morphed into a basketball shaped sphere. Devin stood frozen as Shorty pulled his arm back and then slammed his fist-ball into Devin's chest. Devin flew back five feet and landed on his rear.

 _I need to get some distance between us if I want to try my plan._ Devin thought to himself as he got to his feet. He started backing up and reached his hand towards his pocket...until his shoulder was struck by a grape-sized rock.

"Ha, I hit him!" Scrunchy cheered with a very nasal voice. He had covered one of his large nostrils and blown the small rock out of the other with some velocity. Devin had some mucous that stuck on his shirt.

"Nice shot," Shorty said as he turned back to Devin, "Come on now, Devin. You know what we want." He said as he pounded his fist into his other palm. "Do you really think you can stop us with your weak quirk."

Devin grimaced and rubbed his smarting shoulder, knowing that there will probably be a bruise there tomorrow. "Fine," Devin shouted as he plunged his hand into his pocket, "If you want it, I'll give it to you!" Devin pulled five AA batteries from his pocket and held both ends of each of them. He felt the current shoot through him and a familiar tug form on his back, as if he was using an invisible muscle. The batteries drained one by one, as the last one emptied Devin received a shock, meaning that he had reached his limit and couldn't hold any more.

Devin then threw his right hand forward and yelled as he unleashed a transparent beam of pure energy at the bullies. He felt the tug on his invisible muscle go away as he shot the beam. It was quickly replaced by a dull soreness, as Devin had not used that much power at once before. The beam hit Scrunchy square in the chest, who flinched upon impact with the beam.

Scrunchy straightened himself up as a smirk spread across his face. "Wow Devin, I'm impressed." He said sarcastically with his nasal voice. "That one stung a little." The bullies moved towards Devin with awful smiles on their faces.

Devin started to back up, but soon bumped into a solid brick wall. _Dead end._

"No more batteries?" Shorty said as he threw his fist towards Devin. He made a desperate attempt to raise his arms to block, but it was useless and Shorty's fist knocked Devin into the wall. Devin fell to the ground and curled up into a fetal position. The bullies started to pummel Devin, kicking and punching the poor kid on the ground. With every hit that landed Devin winced, some blows hitting previous bruises and injuries. Devin peeked his eyes open and looked past the legs of his assailants. Four elementary students with their backpacks on crossed in front of the alleyway.

Devin then rolled on his back and went limp. The bullies stopped their torment and started to check the unconscious kid's pockets. "It's not in his pockets, check his backpack." Shorty said, his hand now morphed back into its normal form. The two started to go through Devin's backpack, eventually dumping all of the contents onto the ground. They rummaged through folders, notebooks, and a packed lunch before giving up.

"He doesn't have it." Scrunchy said, "I guess he doesn't want to get into the hero school after all."

"Guess not," Shorty said, "Let's get out of here before someone sees this." Both of the bullies then turned around and walked out of the alleyway.

Devin listened to the footsteps get softer as the bullies left. Once he couldn't hear them Devin started to move. He groaned as he rolled over, most of the hits he had taken would turn into bruises. Devin reached up and touched his head, wincing as he felt a bruise that was already turning purple near his eye. After checking to make sure that nothing was bleeding, Devin collected his belongings and put them into his backpack. He started to walk back towards the street before he stopped halfway.

"You can't beat villains with double a's." A voice told him from three stories up. It belonged to an older man, who looked to be around his 50's. He was leaning his head out of his apartment window. "How can you be a hero if you can't even stop a couple of middle school bullies?"

"Thanks for the advice." Devin said back sarcastically.

"No problem. See you tomorrow." The old man said casually as he leaned back and closed the window. Devin shook his head and continued walking.


	3. Chapter 2: Hello Friends!

_**Chapter 2: Hello Friends!**_

On the subway, all Devin could think about was what the old man had said to him. _How can you be a hero if you can't even stop a couple of middle school bullies?_ The comment circled around in his brain like bugs around a streetlight. _What if he's right?_ Devin thought to himself. He then shook his head. _No, I can be a hero. I just need to try even harder!_

The train stopped and the conductor announced that they had reached the 16th street station. Devin got up and squeezed his way to the door. Devin was still thinking about what to do as he walked up the stairs and out of the subway station. After crossing two streets, Devin turned right and passed underneath an arch that read " **SUNNY MIDDLE SCHOOL** ". Other students were entering the school at the same time, even though it was fifteen minutes before classes started. Devin headed over to the common area, where he usually met with his friends before school.

Devin approached the table that he and his friends usually sat at and saw that Emma was already sitting there. Devin had known Emma since elementary school. She was only a couple inches shorter than Devin and had shoulder-length bleach blonde hair. She was usually got to school earlier than the others and was the one to reserve the table in the mornings because her mother was a teacher there.

"Hey Emma." Devin said once he got closer to the table.

Emma turned and waved, her fingers twinkling as she waved, "Hey Dev- Oh my gosh! What happened to your eye?" She said, shocked at the bruise on Devin's face.

"Oh...this?" Devin said pointing towards the purple welt on his face. "I just had a little run-in with George and Michael again." Devin sat down at the table with Emma and pulled out his phone. The screen was cracked all over from hitting the ground too many times.

"Again? How many times do we have to tell you? Just take a different route to school." Emma pleaded with Devin but she knew he would go back there tomorrow, the same thing he did every day. "You should really get that bruise checked out by the nurse."

"No thanks, I'll be fine." Devin said as he waved off Emma's request, "Besides, I've had injuries that were worse than this."

 _That is true._ Emma thought to herself. _But he can't keep doing this. What if he gets really hurt one day?_

"Do you know when And-"

"Heyo!" A voice called from behind Them. Devin turned around and saw a sandy haired boy walking towards them and waving. His hands had gray dust on them and as he waved the dust flew into the air. Once he saw Devin's eye, a shocked expression appeared on his face. 'Woah Devin! What happened to your face!?"

"Hey Andy." Devin said, avoiding the question, "Do you have my application?"

"Oh, yeah." Andrew said. He started to dig in his backpack and fished out an envelope. "Here's the application and the forty-five dollar application fee." He handed Devin the envelope. "You really waited until the last minute to apply. The last day of school is tomorrow. Today is the last day you can do it."

"Yeah, normally I would be on top of this but I've been distracted recently." Devin said as he put the application into his backpack, "When did you guys turn in your application?"

"Andy and I turned in ours last week." Emma said, "Speaking of that, you should probably turn that into the office before classes start."

Devin reached into his pocket for his phone only to remember that he kept it in a secret compartment in his backpack. After fishing it out he used it to check the time. "Yeah, I'm gonna go do that now. See you guys later." Devin picked up his backpack, gave his friends a wave, and started walking to the office. _I have about ten minutes before class starts. I'll make this quick._ Devin thought to himself. He approached the office, but as he reached out to open the door, it swung open and a smaller kid dashed out, bumping into Devin.

"Aaah!" the kid said as he fell backward onto his rear. The books and papers he was holding scattered all over the floor.

Devin stared for a second and then moved to help pick up the papers that the kid had dropped. "Sorry about that," Devin apologized, "Are you okay?" Devin noticed that the kid looked familiar, but he was sure they had never met before.

"Yeah I'm fine." The kid replied, "But I ran into you I should be the one apologi- Hey wait! You're the eighth grader Devin Owens."

"Do I know you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that I saw your name in the yearbook. I kinda have a really good memory. That's why I just applied for general studies at the hero school."

"I'm actually applying for MT High as well," Devin said as they both stood up, "Except I'm going for the hero course." Devin smiled as he said the last part.

The kid looked up in amazement, "Whoa really? I heard it's really tough to get into the hero course. You must be amazing!"

"You know," Devin said, "You know my name but you never gave me yours."

"Oh yeah. I'm a little forgetful at times." The kid responded while scratching his head, "My name's Brandon, seventh grade. I'll let you turn in your application now. Good luck with the placement tests!"

"Thanks! It was nice to meet you Brandon." Bandon then turned and walked down the hall towards his first class.


	4. Chapter 3: History Lesson

After the Advent of the Extraordinary, chaos and evil roamed the streets unchecked. Laws were passed that restricted the use of quirks in public, but that didn't slow the crime rate. The police were stretched thin and couldn't do much.

That's when powered peace bringers stepped up to assist the government during the chaotic period where villains ruled. These courageous pioneers were called "Heroes", and fought crime using their quirks to make the world a better place. After the need for them was apparent, the American government became the first country to pass legislation that allowed heroes to make government sponsored agencies. These agencies were run by a hero and were paid by the government for rescuing people and stopping crime. The United States was dubbed as the birthplace of heroes as other countries adopted similar laws, making "Hero" a global occupation and replacing the police and emergency services in many situations. Heroes became the center of society, and were looked up to like celebrities.

However, this change to the crime fighting system required other laws to be added as well. A hero license was introduced, requiring all potential heroes to pass a test in order to work professionally. Hero training schools were also instituted all over the country, training the heroes of tomorrow. These schools replaced high school and taught courses required to pass any normal high school along with specialized hero courses. Going to these schools became the dream of many young kids aspiring to be heroes.

Heroes brought about a new age to humanity, one where Heroes were the center. The heroes that were able to stop crime the best were given more fame and fortune then those who couldn't. This gradually resulted in a change from heroes working for justice, to heroes striving for popularity and riches.

Still, generation after generation the crime rate continued to drop, settling around twenty percent for most countries, but that is where it stayed. After countless years with no change, the American government was looking for a way to decrease the crime rate even further. They thought that more heroes would solve the problem, but that only added heroes that were not strong enough to pass the licensing exam into the workforce. The weak heroes had no impact on the crime rate at all, so the crime rate remained the same.

But everything changed when All Might entered the scene. After his debut in Japan, All Might quickly rose through the rankings in his country with his immense power and heroic ideals. With a smile on his face he proudly proclaimed "I am here!" to the world. He became a symbol of peace to Japan, as his mere existence deterred criminals. The crime rate in Japan dropped to nine percent solely because of him. All of Japan looked up to their number one hero. He even became a big hit in the U.S. as most of their top heroes were surrounded by various scandals and were more interested in popularity.

This led to a change from the U.S. government. They realized that in order to decrease crime, America needed to have its own symbol of peace. Trying to produce another All Might the hero schooling system was changed, allowing only one federally funded hero school per state. With a limited number of students allowed in the hero course and harder classes designed to push a student's limit. By doing this they hoped to only get the best of the best students into the Hero pool and potentially get their symbol.

The hero school that Devin was applying to is Milwaukee Technical Hero High School, Wisconsin's hero school. The school offered four courses and each last four years, like every other state hero school. General studies, the business course, the support course, and the hero course. The first three were courses that were related to heroes and helped any student in them possibly get a job with hero agencies. The hero course was the one that everyone wanted to get in, but with the relatively new student cap the odds of getting in were slim.


	5. Chapter 4: Middle School Disarray

_**Chapter 4: Middle School Disarray**_

Devin entered the office. _If that kid's memory is so good that he thinks he can go straight to MT High from seventh grade, then why is he so forgetful?_ Devin thought to himself. Inside there were doors the led to multiple offices. Between them and the entrance was a large desk and chairs set up in a waiting area. Along the wall behind the desk were filing cabinets stacked high all the way to the ceiling. Sitting behind the desk was an older woman with large round glasses. She was typing away at the computer in front of her and didn't see Devin come in.

"Hi Mrs.V" Devin said as he approached the desk.

"Hello Devin." said looking up from her computer screen. "What brings you here today?"

"I have my application for the hero course." Devin said, holding up the envelope.

"Oh, that's great!" Mrs.V said. She got excited and stood up to take the envelope. "Do you have the application fee?"

"Yep, it's all in there."

"Super!" Mrs.V said as she turned around and walked towards the filing cabinets. "You know, twenty-eight other students also applied for the hero course this year." Mrs.V reached the tall filing cabinets and stretched her legs to reach the top. "I know most students don't make it in, but I hope you can make it." Mrs.V then grabbed a folder and placed Devin's application with the others.

 _ **RRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!**_ A bell rang through the hallways of the school, signaling that there were four minutes until the first period.

"I have to go to class." Devin said, "Thanks Mrs.V" Devin waved over his shoulder as he exited the office and started walking towards his first class. The hallways were crowded with students trying to get to class. Since the beginnings of quirks, many buildings were updated to be more accommodating to different quirk types, however, many underfunded public schools remained the same.

Sunny Middle School was one of those schools. Most of the halls and classrooms had not been changed since the advent of the extraordinary. The cramped halls were an annoyance, especially for one particular sixth grader who had already grown to eight feet tall. As he shuffled through the hallway he had to duck and make sure his head didn't hit the ceiling. Another student bumped into the large kid's shoulder as he flew past. The student had leathery bat-like wings on his back and had gotten frustrated with the slow moving crowd and was using his quirk to fly above the crowd. There was not much room and the kid didn't have much control so he bumped into the walls and other students often.

"HEY! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW! NO USING YOUR QUIRKS AT SCHOOL!" A teacher who had two curled ram's horns on his head saw this reckless behavior and ran after the kid, but soon found it difficult to chase him through the hallways with all of the kids there. As the teacher chased after the kid with bat wings, another student's feet hit the teacher's head. The teacher looked up and saw a student clinging to the ceiling with suction cup fingertips moving above the crowd. The teacher reached out quickly and grabbed the suction cup kid's foot. "You too kid! Get down from there!"

As the teacher tried to pull the kid down from the ceiling, other kids were using their quirks to get through the crowd also. Those with stronger quirks were using them to push through or go around the students standing in their way, sometimes disregarding the safety of their classmates.

A particularly strong student was pushing through the crowd and knocked over a little girl. She fell to the ground and her bag slid off her bag. More students were approaching where she fell, and they didn't seem to see her. She paDevined and thought of herself getting trampled beneath the feet of her classmates as she curled herself into a fetal position.

She lay there waiting for the pounding feet to come, but the students went around. Tentatively she uncurled herself and started to pick up her bag, then she saw why the crowd had parted. Standing in front of her was a kid with short brown hair, stopped in the way of the crowd, forcing them to go around him and the girl.

"Are you okay?" Devin asked the girl. "Here, let me help you up." Devin helped the girl to her feet. "It's pretty rowdy today. Must be because we're so close to the end of the school year." Devin smiled and pulled out his phone to look at the time. The girl was stunned speechless at the kindness of Devin. It was not often that help was given from a stranger. "I better get to class. Nice meeting you." Devin then rejoined the crowd as he continued to his next class.

The girl recovered from her stunned state and went to go thank Devin, but he was already lost within the crowd. _Who was that?_ She thought to herself.


	6. Chapter 5: Second Last Day of School

_**Chapter 5: Second Last Day of School**_

Devin walked through the door to his first period class. , his teacher, was trying to calm down the unruly students, but so far his efforts were in vain.

"Please take your seat." said before resigning and heading back to his desk with an exasperated sigh. "Oh, Hello there Devin." He said when he noticed Devin had entered.

"Hi ." Devin said with a wave, "What's on the agenda today?"

"Well, we finished the curriculum already and the last day of school is tomorrow, so I figured we'd watch a movie."

"Sounds great," Devin said before moving towards his desk. He dodged a paper ball thrown his direction and sat down. Devin was used to the class being like this. Nowadays it was hard to keep a class of kids in check and most students didn't feel the need to follow the rules. Misbehavior and distraction had become the norm in schools with the teachers having almost no way to stop it. The worst part was the social stratification that happen between people who had powerful quirks and those who did not. Kids who had strong quirks often bullied those who had weak quirks or were quirkless often because they couldn't fight back.

"Alright kids class has started. Take your seats." had stood up at the front of the room. After he said this most of the students started to quiet down. "Today we'll be watching a movie." When said this the class became loud with chatter. stopped and waited for the class to quiet down.

Devin sat near the back of the classroom and kept silent. _I wish Emma or Andy were in this class._ He thought to himself. _Then at least I'd have someone to talk to._

The class had quieted down again and Mr. Manley continued speaking. "But before we begin I want to remind all of those who applied for the Hero High school that the entrance exams will take place on August first." After said that the class started talking with each other again, and Devin overheard some of their conversations.

"Does anyone here really think they'll get into MT High?"

"Did anyone even apply there? I hear barely anyone actually gets in."

"If I wanted to be a hero I'd just do it without that school."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Who's gonna stop me? They can't even stop all of the villains on the street."

Devin already knew that the exams were on August first. He had marked that day in his calendar a long time ago. As a kid Devin and his friends would pretend to be heroes, rescuing people from danger and fighting off villains. Though, after class sizes were limited, Devin started to become worried about his chances. Not only did he have to compete with other applicants, he had to overcome his weak quirk. He didn't have great agility or combat training like Emma, or a strong quirk like Andy.

But Devin had determination. Even though the odds were stacked against him, he was going to give it everything he had. He was going to pass the exam with pure effort and will power. However the doubts that Devin had creeped in now and then, saying he was unprepared and didn't have what it took to be a hero.

Devin didn't have too much time to think, as had started the movie. The rest of the school day went by pretty fast. Most of the classes that Devin was in were similar to 's in that the curriculum had already been taught. With it being the second last day of school most teachers decided to play a video or have their class play a game. When lunch time came, Devin met up with Andrew and Emma in the cafeteria. During lunch they talked about things they could do over the summer and how great it would be if they all passed the exam and made it into the hero school.


	7. Chapter 6: Home Sweet Home

_**Chapter 6: Home Sweet Home**_

After school Devin took the subway back to his house. He kept his hands on his pockets, and locked up his backpack, because pickpockets were common on the trains. He pulled out his phone and looked through the Hero News. The hero news website only reported news about heroes and Devin loved to read about his favorite heroes saving lives. However, the day's news was the same as it usually was, tabloid-esque fluff articles about the top heroes' personal lives. There was an article about Captain Celebrity's involvement in yet another scandal and some pictures of The Swagger walking to his car wearing a $600 t-shirt.

Devin became frustrated reading the articles, so he put away his phone and rode the rest of the way in silence. None of the articles interested him. He got off the train at his stop and started walking towards his house. Devin had to take a detour because the police had a street roped off. Devin asked around and found that a convenience store in the area had gone in and stolen a lot of money. The police were investigating the scene of the crime. This wasn't too unusual. The store was robbed quite often.

After going around the investigation site, Devin arrived at his house. It was a modest one-story house in the suburbs of the city. When Devin entered the front door and set down his backpack. A small face peeked around the corner.

"Oh, hey Devin!" The young girl showed a big smile as she greeted Devin.

"Hi Alice," Devin said to his younger sister. She was beaming with excitement, as most kids were around this time of year. "Did you enjoy the second last day of school?"

"Yep. I can't wait until summer vacation." Alice grabbed a string cheese snack from the fridge, "Did you see the crime scene on your way home?"

"Yeah, it caused me to make a detour as I was coming home." Devin said as he started walking toward the back of the house. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Ohkay." Alice said with cheese in her mouth.

Devin walked to the back of the house and opened the door to his room. He kept his room somewhat neat. There was a twin sized bed pushed up to the corner, a desk that had a laptop, a dresser, and a closet in the wall. The wall above the desk had an assortment of posters, showcasing Devin's favorite heroes from past and present. On a shelf above his desk sat hero action figures, which he used to play with as a kid.

Devin walked towards the desk and booted up his laptop. After waiting for it to get started, he performed an in-depth search of the hero news website for any news on his favorite hero, Multiplier. Multiplier was ranked number 46 on the national hero rankings. He wasn't the flashiest hero, but that was why Devin liked him so much. He was a relative veteran in the hero scene, and his rank used to be in the top thirty. Multiplier was very different from most of the top pros. He was mostly ignored by the press due to the fact that he didn't make great news. He didn't show off his immense wealth, have a secret double life, or get into any sort of trouble. He woke up, did his job, and then went home. Devin had a hard time even finding a Multiplier shirt online because, the hero didn't like to advertise himself. In fact, his ranking being in the top 100 alone was a testament to his strength.

After running a quick search, Devin found a video of a Multiplier capturing a villain that was trying to escape the authorities after robbing a grocery store in Chicago.


	8. Chapter 7: All in a Day's Work

_**Chapter 7: All in a Day's Work**_

The villain held his gun in his left hand with his arm outstretched. The cashier on the other side of the gun stood there cowering with his hands up in front of his face.

"P-please s-sir." The cashier stammered. He was visibly shaking. "I-I'm just trying to m-make a l-living."

The evildoer's mouth slid into a wicked grin. "Me too." The cashier moved his hand and looked at the thief's face. He wore a bandanna with two eye holes around his head to somewhat hide his identity. The cashier's focus settled on the villain's eyes which had no pupils, just a solid grey wall directed straight down the sights showing no remorse. "Now put the money into the bag as fast as you can." The thief barked.

The cashier grabbed the bag and quickly started putting cash from the register into it. Meanwhile the villain stood there, impatiently tapping his foot. After filling the bag with as much as he could, the cashier slid the bag back to the villain.

The villain's smile grew wider. "Nice doing business with you." He said with a slight wave before turning and bolting out the door. The thief knew he didn't have much time. The security systems that were being installed everywhere nowadays had automatic crime detection and alert systems. The police would already know by now, but with the police force spread so thin, the villain was sure he could get away with minimal resistance.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE" a voice bellowed from down the street.

The villain turned and looked towards the source of the voice. Down the street stood a muscled man wearing a yellow hero suit. His blue cape trailed behind him, waving in the wind. There was a semicircle logo on his chest that read "X10". He wore nothing on his face except for a cross expression. The villain froze for a second.

"Ha!" The villain laughed, "For a second there I thought I was unlucky enough to attract the attention of a top hero, but you're just a no-name D rank hero." The villain taunted the hero, but his expression did not change. The villain straightened up. "Well, I guess it's time to make my exit. Goodbye hero!"

The villain then spread his arms and a thin layer of skin that stretched from his wrist to his ankles exposed itself. The skin layer resembled that of a flying squirrel. The wind then was caught in the villain's "wings" and made them ballon outwards. The villain then started to float off the ground backwards thanks to the sail-like wings underneath his arms. He rose thirty feet off of the ground laughing all the way.

The hero, Multiplier, stood there his expression still the same as he watched the villain use his quirk. He then crouch as if he was winding up to jump. He said the word, "SIX" and then took off. Multiplier launched into the air and became a yellow blur to anybody watching as he flew in a straight line to the villain thirty feet up. The villain reacted quickly and fired off three quick shots with his gun. The bounced off of Multiplier as he grabbed onto the thief's leg with his left hand. With a thunderous voice, Multiplier then shouted, "SEVEN MAN TAKEDOWN!" He whipped his right fist around and slammed the villain towards the ground with tremendous force. The two of them shot towards the ground and slammed into the pavement. The asphalt cracked from the force and the villain was knocked out cold.

Multiplier got up and placed handcuffs on the villain's wrists. "I shouldn't have used that much power," He mumbled to himself, "...probably could have done it with six."

"Wow Multiplier, that was amazing!" A couple of reporters who were filming the incident ran to the hero to ask some questions. "Can we get a quick comment?"

Without turning, Multiplier told them the same line he used every time the press asked questions, "Just doing my job." Right after that two squad cars came down the street with their lights and sirens on. Once they saw the situation they proceeded to get out of their cars and remove the reporters from the area so they could close the case and take the villain to jail.

The video Devin was watching ended there and Devin read the after report underneath. All of the money had been recovered and returned to the cashier who was found cowering inside the store with no injuries. The fight was typical for Multiplier but Devin still found it amazing how quickly he took down the villain. _Why isn't this one of the front page articles?_ Devin thought to himself. He always wondered why the top news articles had nothing to do with crime fighting, but there wasn't much that Devin could do.

"Dinner's ready." Devin heard his mother's voice call from outside his room. He looked at the time. It was already 5:30. Devin got up out of his chair and left his room to join his family at the table. Devin's Father and Alice were already sitting at the table. His Father held a tablet in his hand and was swiping through the news. His Mother was cutting up lasagna and putting it onto plates.

Devin pulled up a chair and sat at the dinner table with them.

"Hey, I thought there were no electronics at the dinner table dad." Alice teased

"Oh, this is just for work" Their Father retorted.

"Bu-"

"How was work today Dad?" Devin butted in to change the subject. "Did Turbo Action catch any villains?"

Devin's Dad, Charles, was a public relations supervisor at a hero agency run by Turbo Action, a hero based in Milwaukee. Charles' job was to help Turbo Action and the agency look good in the media. He was in charge of reviewing reports sent to the media outlets, and making statements for Turbo Action to say when interviewed.

"Well…" Devin's Dad started, "He had a busy day, as usual, but he never encountered anything serious today."

"Alright everyone, the lasagna's ready." Devin's Mom said, "You can all grab a plate now."

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Alice and Dad watched TV, Mom was working on her laptop, and Devin decided to play the latest pro hero game on his gaming console. Before going to bed, Devin thought back to the bullies in the alley. _Tomorrow's going to be different,_ He thought to himself. _Last day of school._


	9. Chapter 8: Stand Tall Young Hero

Chapter 8: Stand Tall Young Hero

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Devin sat up quickly and turned off his alarm. Today was the day. Last day of middle school. All three months of Summer vacation were only eight hours away. Devin hopped out of bed and started his daily routine. He went over to his dresser and grabbed his favorite shirt, a blue Multiplier T-shirt with his "X10" logo on the front. He took a shower, brushed his teeth and made himself some toast. At this time in the morning, his Father had already left for work, and his Mother and Alice were still asleep. After eating breakfast, Devin quickly grabbed two D batteries from his room and went out the door.

Devin was only one school day away from Summer vacation, but he had something to do before he went to school. The quickest route to school was the subway station two blocks South, but Devin went in the opposite direction instead. He followed the sidewalk and kept going North for ten blocks until he reached the corner he walked to every morning.

Devin approached the edge of the building on the corner and peeked around it. Surprisingly, Scrunchy and Shorty, (George and Michael respectively) were not waiting there as usual. Devin lowered his guard and approached the entrance of the alleyway where they usually waited to ambush kids on their way to school. He looked down the alley. There was no evidence of the two bullies, just a couple of trash cans.

Suddenly two large hand grabbed him from behind and shoved him into the alley with a large amount of force. Devin tripped and fell onto the hard pavement. He took a second to find his bearings and then looked up and saw the bullies, George and Michael standing over him with angry expressions on their faces.

"You thought you could pull a fast one on us, huh?" Michael said while morphing his fist into a ball. His face did not have the playful sneer that it usually held. Today he had only a serious scowl.

"Wha-?"

"My Brother told me that you turned in the hero school application yesterday."

Devin suddenly remembered why the clumsy Brandon kid that he ran into while turning in his application looked familiar. Brandon looked like a younger version of the bully standing before Devin.

"Look, we were doing the world a favor." George piped in with his nasally voice. He wore an expression that was just as upset as Michael's was. "If they allowed you  
to become a hero, think of all the people that you would fail to save."

They must have really wanted the application money.  
Devin thought to himself.

"Come on Devin. You know what's gonna happen next." Michael said as he took a step towards Devin. "Let's get this over with."

Michael whipped his fist around towards Devin. He tried to get his hand up to block, but he was unable to get there in time and Michael's wrecking ball of a fist crashed into the side of Devin's head. Devin staggered to his left before stumbling and falling down. His right ear was ringing from the punch he received. Devin .then shook his head and tried to reach his hand into his pocket for the batteries, but Michael and George were relentless and hit him again before he could get there.

George and Michael continued their assault, knocking him back into the alley further with each hit. Any time that Devin tried to get up they would knock him down again, eventually getting to the end of the alley where they started to kick him until he stopped trying to fight back. Devin curled up into his fetal position and just tried to protect his head. He peeked down the alley way while he could.

Where are those kids? Are they late?  
Devin thought to himself.

A kick from George caught Devin in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. Devin wheezed and rolled onto his back while trying to catch his breath. The two bullies stopped kicking immediately.

"Search his stuff." Michael told his partner. "See if he's hiding anything else from us."

The two of them started to search through his items as usual. George looked through his backpack while Michael checked Devin's pockets.

"Ooh, what is this?" George said while poking through the back pack.

"What did you find?"

"A secret pocket." George fiddled with the zipper and pulled out a smartphone. "I thought he didn't have a phone."

"Me too, but we can still sell it." Michael said, taking the phone from George's hand and putting it into his pocket. "Come on let's get out of here and see if anyone else passes by." The pair of them started to walk back out of the alley.  
" HEY! "  
The two bullies stopped and turned around. Devin was the one who yelled at them and was trying to get to his feet. As he got up, he was visibly shaking. His arms had bruises all over

and his shirt was dirty and torn in a couple spots. He got to his feet and clenched his fists out in front of him.

"Get back here. I'm not done with you yet!" Devin shouted.

The two bullies stood there stunned. Devin stood there looking like he was barely able to stand, let alone fight. Michael's surprised face turned into a sneer once the shock of it all wore off. "I don't know why you do this to yourself Devin. But we have better things to do than knock you unconscious again." The pair then turned around and continued to walk towards the street.

It's now or never.  
Devin thought to himself. I only planned to use one, but I'm going to need to go past my limits.  
Devin reached into his pockets and grabbed both of the D batteries that he brought. Putting one in each hand, he started to drain the electricity from both of them. The current coursed through his body and he felt the tug on his invisible muscle. It felt sore from yesterday, but Devin pushed on, attempting to store as much energy as possible from the batteries. He winced as he felt a sting. He was unable to hold all of the energy and some of it was spilling out, shocking him in the process.

Once the batteries were drained, Devin dropped them and started to run towards the bullies. Michael heard him running towards him and turned his head. The previous day, Devin converted the electricity from his batteries into an ineffective beam, but today he had a different plan and more energy. He could feel himself losing control of it as he could see and feel the occasional spark. He had to do this fast.

As he approached Michael, Devin focused on the stored energy shooting through his limbs. He concentrated on moving the raw energy to his fist and turning it into kinetic energy. Devin pulled his fist back and swung it straight towards Michael. The bully tried to move out of the way, but Devin's fist moved faster than it should have. Powered by the extra kinetic energy, it cut through the air sending small sparks as it went. Devin's fist connected with Michael's jaw and the bully staggered backwards a few steps. His hat had flown off and he was clutching his face.

Did I really do that?  
Devin thought to himself. He the turned towards George and saw him reach his hand towards his nose to fire a snot rocket. Devin quickly jumped out of the way as the slimy rock whizzed by. After landing on his feet Devin moved towards George. He had used a lot of his stored energy for that punch, but he still had some energy left.

George saw Devin coming towards him and instinctively raised his hands in defence. Devin saw this and instead of punching, he set himself for a roundhouse kick. He planted his left foot and started to swing his right foot around. Again he focused on converting the electricity to kinetic energy, except this time in his leg. His foot swung around and hooked George's arms, pushing them away. Devin followed through with the spin from his kick and followed it up with a right handed punch. He planted his fist straight on George's large nose.

George reeled backwards and clutched his hands over his nose. Devin landed the punch, however he had run out of stored energy after his kick. This time he felt the aftereffects of the punch. Devin's knuckles stung from punching George. He winced from the pain and clutched his hand with his other hand.

"You little punk!" Devin turned his head as Michael had recovered and yelled at him, enraged from the blow he received. Michael rushed towards him with all the force of a linebacker. Devin tried to dodge but his muscles wouldn't move fast enough. He was injured and exhausted. Michael slammed into Devin and they both fell to the ground. Michael positioned himself above Devin and be gean to pummel him with repetitive punches. Devin raised his hands and curled back into a fetal position, but the punches kept coming and coming and coming…

Three stories above, the old man sat looking out his window watching the events unfold. He lived alone in a one bedroom apartment that could use some love. The floorboards creaked when they were walked on, and the sunlight coming in from the window illuminated the surplus of dust particles that hung in the air. On his walls hung old newspaper clippings with headlines of pro heroes stopping villains.

Why does he do this to himself?  
The old man thought to himself. He knows that he can't beat both of them, and yet he still comes here every morning.  
He continued to watch the situation unfolding below, debating with whether or not he should get involved, when a group of elementary students walked past the entrance to the alley. He had seen the sam kids passing by while Devin confronted George and Michael before but had failed to put two and two together. Until now.

The old man got up from his chair with haste and walked over to his wardrobe. Getting down on his knees, he reached under the wardrobe and slid out a thin wooden chest with a large padlock on the opening. As he pulled it out, the chest scraped against the floorboards and kicked up even more dust. After fiddling with the key, the old man removed the lock and lifted the top off of a chest that has not been opened in years.

Meanwhile George and Michael continued to pummel their prey. Devin had saw the kids pass, but it would be hard to get away now that he had fought back. At least they are safe. Devin thought. But how am I going to get out of this!?  
"We could have just left." George said in between breaths. His nose had swollen even larger than usual. "But you had to fight back."

"Remember that you're the one who brought this on yourself." Michael said as he raised his morphed fist.

KABOOOOM

The air suddenly exploded above their heads. It was a small explosion but it startled the bullies enough to get them to stop what they were doing.

"Step away from the kid." A voice yelled from down the alley. The two bullies turned around slowly and raised their hands in surrender. Devin looked over and saw fear on their faces. He then sat up so he could see where the voice was coming from.

The old man stood in the alleyway, facing the three of them. Devin had always thought the man was old because of his grey hair and grouchy demeanor, but now that he saw him up close, he took back that opinion. He had a lean athletic frame, and wore jeans and a t-shirt with three stars and three stripes on it. He held a bow in his hand with the string pulled back and wore a quiver around his waist. The tip of the arrow loaded in his bow glowed red.  
"Take his phone out of your pocket and put it on the ground, slowly  
." The old man said. Michael then reached his hand into his pocket and took out Devin's phone, all while keeping one hand up. Michael then gently set the phen on the ground next to him and went back to standing with both arms raised.

"Now get out of here before I call the cops." the old man said as he lowered his bow and released tension on the string. The two bullies took the opportunity to quickly run from the alleyway. They exited the alley and turned right, not looking back. The old man put his arrow away in his quiver and started walking towards Devin.

"Don't worry kid, I'm not going to hurt you." The old man said, his voice softer than before. "You should get those injuries treated. I have a first aid kit with me." He pointed at a bag in his hand. "And besides, I wanted to have a real conversation with you..." He stopped and held out his hand to help Devin up. "...Hero to Hero."

The Story Will Continue In Book 2: Will to Go On


	10. Chapter 9: The American Archer

_**Chapter 9: The American Archer**_

The old man helped Devin over to the nearest wall and sat him down with his back against the wall. Devin felt a dull wet pain coming from his shin. After inspecting his leg, Devin noticed that he was bleeding from a cut there. It wasn't deep, but it still needed to be treated.

"We need to clean this wound." The old man said in a somber tone as he pulled a bottle of rubbing alcohol out of the first aid kit, "Hold still kid. This is going to hurt."

Devin winced as the old man poured rubbing alcohol on the cut and wiped away dirt and blood. The old man then pulled out a bandage roll and started wrapping it around Devin's leg. This was the first time that Devin had seen the old man up close. The most he had seen of the old man was his face from the window of his apartment. They would talk every now and then, after George and Michael had left, but Devin had never been properly introduced to the man.

Just minutes ago, the old man had saved Devin from a particularly sticky situation with an exploding arrow fired from a bow. Devin had gotten hurt from the fight so the old man offered to bandage his cuts with a first aid kit in exchange for a face to face conversation.

Now that Devin could get a good look at the old man, he realized that the old man either wasn't that old, or he looked young for his age. Devin had assumed that the man was frail, and wrinkly which would explain why he never saw the man outside of his apartment. However, up close Devin could see that the man had a lean athletic frame, and that there were quite a few black hairs among all the gray ones.

The old man had finished bandaging Devin's leg and moved his attention to Devin's other wounds. "Show me your arm." The old man said. Devin showed the old man his arm and the old man started to clean up some small of the small cuts. "You really love getting beat up don't you?"

Devin didn't respond.

"Ever thought of taking a different route to school in the morning?"

Again Devin stayed silent.

"Can you at least tell me your name?"

"...It's Devin." he mumbled

"There we go." The old man had finished bandaging Devin's arm and was now putting away the equipment. "Now Devin, would you mind telling me why you come down this specific street every morning?"

"I...I wanted to bea-"

"That's a lie and you know it." The old man calmly interrupted Devin. He paused before continuing, "It's because of the kids, right?"

Devin's gaze turned to his feet.

"You come here every morning, get beat up, and while those bullies are distracted with you, those kids pass by unscathed."

Devin got to his feet quickly. "If you've come all the way down here to tell me I should stop, you're wasting your time. I get told that I should look out for myself all the time from my friends and family and I'm sick of it. I may not be cut out for becoming a hero, but this is something I can do."

Devin walked over to his backpack, picked it up, and started to walk back towards the street.

"That wasn't all I had to say kid." The old man spoke after letting Devin finish. "You may not have a strong quirk, but you still have what it takes to be a hero. I can tell."

Devin stopped and turned around. "How would you know? You're just some old guy yelling at me from his window."

"Hah, this _old man_ used to be a pro hero back in his day." The old man smirked as he saw Devin's surprise. "Ever hear of the Heroic Union?"

"Yeah, they were a team of heroes about twenty years ago. What does tha-" Devin paused as he came to the realization. "Wait...you're the sharpshooting hero, American Archer, aren't you."

"Used to. I'm retired now." The old man sighed for a second before continuing. "But I'm not here to talk about myself, I came down here to offer you an opportunity."

Devin looked curiously at the former hero.

"You have the heart of a hero kid, but you lack the ability to make use of it. No amount of fighting bullies will fix that. What you _need_ is a teacher. Now of course they'll have plenty of experienced teachers at the state hero school, but you have to make it in first. I can help get you there."

Devin, looked suspiciously at the old man, "What are you getting at? You have nothing to gain from helping me. As much as I would love to have a former hero as some sort of coach, I can't wrap my head around why you would help me."

The old man simply smiled. "You know, I was asking myself the same question about you. You didn't have to help those kids, but you came here every morning because you wanted to help those who needed it. I'm the same way."

Devin looked down unable to find anything to say.

"And now it's my turn to help you." The old man continued. "I will train you to pass the entrance exams, but it won't be easy." The former hero's expression hardened, "There will be times that I'm going to ask a lot from you and you must not give up no matter how difficult it may be. Knowing all this, will you let me teach you."

Devin looked up at the old man. His eyes tearing up slightly.

"Yes."

Devin reached his arm up and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He then clenched his fist and gave a determined look. "I won't let you down Mr. Archer."

The old man smiled and placed his hand on Devin's shoulder. "Good," he said. "Now get to school before you're late. I'll meet you at the abandoned lot on the corner of 56th and Fletcher after you're finished. We'll start your training then"

"Alright," Devin said as he turned towards the street again. He turned and waved back at the old man. See you later Mr. Archer."


End file.
